Metallica’s ‘Hardwired… To Self-Destruct’ Debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart

It's official! Metallica had previously teased that they were on track to debut at No. 1 with the Hardwired ... To Self-Destruct album in 57 countries. We now know that one of those countries is the U.S., where the hard-hitting two-disc effort debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart.

For Metallica, this marks the sixth time they have topped the album charts. The Billboard 200 has started adding track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums to their final totals, but in terms of pure album sales, the disc opened with 282,000 sold, with the additional measuring terms pushing the total to 291,000 equivalent album units.

Hardwired ... To Self-Destruct enjoyed the third largest debut of 2016, both in terms of units and traditional album sales, behind only Drake's Views album and Beyonce's Lemonade disc. The album also sold more than any rock debut in two-and-a-half years, with Coldplay's Ghost Stories opening at 382,000 copies sold in 2014.

Back in 2008, Metallica's previous disc Death Magnetic sold close to half million copies in just a three-day sales window while also topping the Billboard 200 chart. The band's last six albums, dating back to the self-titled "black" album, have all debuted at No. 1

Metallica took part in a major promotional rollout for the album, issuing a trio of singles -- "Hardwired," "Moth Into Flame" and "Atlas, Rise!" -- ahead of the release, along with shooting videos for every song on the disc and releasing them the week of the disc's drop date. Metallica will ramp up their touring schedule in support of the album in 2017. Keep track of their dates here.

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